by A. S. Oren
She gives a small smile and takes another bite before saying, “Thanks, Spark. I’ll miss you while you're gone. You're probably going to miss my big break through. I know I'm on the verge of breaking the barrier now. Soon, I will be able to bring your father and brother back to life. Won't that be wonderful?"
Dante gives a sad smile before nodding and standing. "Yes, Mother. I can't imagine anything more perfect than having them back."
The memory fades before I can see anymore. Was she trying to use Necromancy to bring them back? That's impossible, even in our world. At best, she could reanimate a corpse, but it would be nothing but a mindless being. Unable to feel or think for itself. It's dark stuff too. It's said only a person truly wishing death themselves, delves into the world of Necromancy.
As that memory goes another takes its place. This time, Dante can't be more than four or five. My eyes widen at the fact that he's standing in Edgar’s house, but the kitchen table and living room furniture are nowhere to be found. He's not the only one standing there either. At least a dozen boys stand with him. My heart skips a beat when I spot Maverick and Paden, both six and seven. What the hell is going on?
Edgar comes down the stairs, carrying a tray with a single wooden bowl. His hair still has peppering of black through it and his wrinkles are less deep. "Have your father's explained to you why you're here tonight?" he asks them.
A boy with short, curly hair raises his hand, he's older than the others are and something about his green eyes strikes me as familiar. Jericho! "We're here to see if any of us are the ones to guard the female protector and keep her company while she's under your care."
Edgar gives a stiff nod. "That is correct, and I will be picking the three boys that meld the best with her magic. I don't want to have to break up fights because your magic causes a negative reaction to hers. "
He kneels so that he's at a better height for most the boys. He points to Jericho. "You'll go first." The boy steps up to Edgar and the tray. Inside of is some kind of liquid and a thick strand of curly golden hair. "All you have to do is hover your hand over it." Jericho lifts his hand and does as Edgar said. The water quakes and soon turns black. Edgar frowns. "You may leave with your father. You will not be chosen for this assignment."
Edgar points to Dante. "You next." Dante swallows hard before stepping up to the tray. He hovers his small hand over the bowl and the water glows gold, illuminating Edgar's tired, old face. He lifts an eyebrow. "You may stay."
One by one, the others hover their hands over the bowl, most of the time the water turns a light blue. It never turns black again. Maybe, even then, my magic knew Jericho was a bad seed.
Soon, the only boys left were Maverick, Dante and Paden. The memory fades. My power lessens with every second. I can't heal him for much longer. No, I need to see the rest of the memory. I don't remember Dante ever being part of my childhood. Wasn't he chosen too? My mind is free from all warps. I would've remembered him by now. In the other memory, Dante's mother said that Edgar didn't pick him, but Edgar told them that he would be choosing three boys and Dante was one of the final three standing.
The memories fade completely, and I fall to the ground in an exhausted heap. My arms and legs heavier than they have ever been my entire life. Dante falls to his knees next to me and leans into the wall. "Are you okay?" I ask. I barely have the oomph to lift my head enough to make sure he's still breathing.
"Give me a sec," he mumbles.
I lie and wait. Nothing much else I can do. "Thank you," he finally says, as he comes to sit next my head. "I remember now. Everything and then some. Bits of it are confusing, but I think I understand it better now. "
"What’s the nickname you call me?"
"Fire, of course," he says with a tired laugh. He places a hand on my shoulder. "You okay? You shouldn't have healed me with your Angel powers."
It's not like I had much choice. We don't have the magical Sea Witch broth sitting around. I feel like my bones have been replaced with bags of sand."
"You used too much magic at once. I'll help you to your bed." He stands.
"Dante, do you remember what you did while you were warped?" He will need to know of our fake relationship, if we are going to keep up the fake appearance. I managed to hold onto the memories of what I did while I was warped, but I don't know if there was a chance that I healed his away. I don't know how any of this works.
He sighs. "Yes, I remember everything. I'm so--"
"There's no reason to apologize. I don't hold any of it against you. Just as long as you remember, and I don't have to tell you everything now. I don't think I would be able to keep my eyes open anyway. Don’t forget, the Watchers don’t know you’re fixed. We have to keep up appearances and make them believe we’re a couple."
There’s a long pause before he says, “Right, I know.”
He leans down and picks me up bridal style. "Let's get you to bed. You need to sleep this off.”
He crouches as he carries me out the crawl space door, closing it behind him. He lays me on the bed for a second, to pull back the covers and then puts me under them. "Good night . . . Fi-Rosenip. I'll see you in the morning." He bends down and picks up the shirt he dropped earlier.
"Wait."
He puts on his shirt and looks at me. "Do you need something?"
"Don't leave. Stay here."
"Of course. Are you sure?"
I give a heavy nod. "Yes."
"I'll be on the couch then if you need me for anything."
"No, don't be silly. You always sleep with me, remember?" His cheeks flush a dark red.
"Okay." He kicks of his shoes and climbs on top of the covers.
"Get under the covers. You looks stiffer than a two by four."
He swallows hard. None of the suave sexual confidence stayed behind I guess. I smile as he clumsily gets under the comforter with me and snaps his fingers to shut off the lights.
“Good night, Rosenip.”
I still wish I knew where that nickname came from. I guess now I will never know. “Good night. Oh, and D?”
“Yeah?”
“Could you hold me?”
He turns on his side and wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me only a little bit closer to him. I wonder what is going through his head right now.
“My father would kill me if he saw me right now,” he whispers.
“What? Why?”
“Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
My mind goes back to the memory I saw. Why didn’t Edgar take Dante too?
The Full Monty
The soft rhythm of his breathing wakes me up from a peaceful dream. An orange sky greets me as it glows through my sheer curtains. Dante's arm hasn't left my side all night. I can't believe he actually was able to fall asleep, he was so tense before I let the exhaustion over take me. My body still has a tinge of heaviness spread throughout it, but it's nothing I can't handle. I have the first tutoring session with Bullock today. I hope he is okay. ‘I wish you could hear me’ I think. They must have taken the ring from him, or something about the dungeons is blocking us from speaking.
I loosen Dante's hand from around my side and turn over with his arm still encircling me. I stare at his sleeping face. He looks so peaceful and calm, as if the darkness that has surrounded us for so long hasn't touched him in the least. My heart flutters as I stare at his pink lips. I really did like kissing him last night. I wish I understood my feelings. Maverick hasn't even been dead two weeks, and I find myself filling the void he left behind with Dante. What kind of person does that make me? Am I really the slut that Roseman made me out to be in all their minds? Maybe he saw that part of me before I did.
I lift my index finger to stroke the bridge of his nose, like he did to me the other day. I can't help it. Something in my stomach turns as his amber eyes flutter open and stare back at me. He blinks a few times. I think he forgot where he was for a second. I give him a small smile.
"Hi," I whisper.
"H
i."
"Did you sleep well?" I ask as I move a hand under my head.
He pulls his arm back to his side; it's strange not to have the weight on my side. "Yeah, I fell asleep a little bit after you. I guess I was tired, too, after . . . last night's work out."
At least he's remembering his tongue. "Yeah."
"How are you?" He reaches up and pushes some hair behind my ear. I blink at him with surprise for a moment.
"I'm still tired, but I don't really feel like going back to sleep, strange, right?”
He smiles and does and odd shake of his head. "No."
"I guess we should get up and get ready now," It's strange. I didn't have sex with him last night, but this is how I always imagined the morning after a one-night-stand turning out. Awkward but not uncomfortable. If the makes sense.
"Right," he says. He sits up and pushes off the blankets. "I need to go back to my dorm and get a fresh uniform."
"You have a fresh one in my closet still." I found it in there the other morning. Roseman really thought this whole thing through.
"Oh yeah," he runs a hand through his black locks and stands. He looks around my room for a second, before looking to me.
"Over there, where the gold knob is. Hard to spot, I know." I point to my camouflaged closet.
He opens it and grabs his uniform. He starts to take off his shirt, then looks to me, and stops.
I motion for him to continue. "Keep going. It's nothing I haven't seen before, D." He has to keep up appearance; I just hope he doesn't go commando under his slacks. His cheeks flush a deep red as he takes off his shirt. I smile. He may be all talk about being a ladies man, but I wonder how far he's actually gotten with a girl. Fake memories don't count.
He looks again to me when he reaches for the belt of his pants. "I can have Enid play The Full Monty if you want. Turn this into a show."
A smile tugs on his lips, and the death grip he has on his belt lessens. The sooner he gets back to seeming like he's a suave, sophisticated, sex machine the better it is for us all. "I always pictured stripping to Bringing Sexy Back though."
I laugh and toss a pillow at him. "Get dressed, dork."
I slowly get up from the bed, testing to make sure my legs won't shake or give out on me. They still feel like lead has replaced a part of my muscles, but at least they aren't shaking anymore. I walk over to where he is, standing in his black boxers and go into the closet. I start to strip. I try not to think about the fact that he's standing right there at the door. Normal couple, who've had sex, do this. It would be unnatural if we weren't able to dress in front of each other. It’s not like he hasn’t seen me naked countless times by now and I’ve only gone down to my bra and panties anyway.
I get on a new uniform. I turn to Dante, just as he gets on the shirt and starts to button it up. He turns toward me. “Are you ready to face Bullock today for tutoring? I know you have a complicated history with him.”
Does he remember everything? Even his false memories? Then he remembers things I don’t know. Like where my ‘problem’ with Bullock came from.
“He’s the best air tutor in the school. I would be stupid if I don’t take him on as a tutor. Dad wants me to get better at air magic and this is the only way I can do it.”
He pulls his hair out from under the collar of the shirt. “Well, I wish you luck. What time is it?”
I place a hand on my hip. “Do I look like a clock?”
He shrugs and holds a hand out to me. I take it without thinking. “Maybe. You do have two hands after all.” I snort and he pulls me closer to him before placing a small chaste kiss on my lips. A surge of electricity moves down my spine and I shudder. As we pull apart, I open my eyes. He stares back at me. That was our first kiss since I fixed his mind. I’ve never felt like that before while kissing him. I press my lips together. I’m so confused on what I should be feeling right now.
Bullock’s Back
I knock on the door. Kaliyah stands next to me. This morning she alerted me to the fact that Roseman sent her a signal that gave her the new location of our tutoring sessions. We're no longer in the Back Waters where Bullock's living corridors had been. Now, we're closer to the front of the school. A massive window over takes the wall next to the classroom I stand in front of. The fresh sunlight makes the dull forest green and dark red woods look even more dull and outdated.
The door opens and Roseman looks down at me. A fake grin spreads across his cheeks. The muscles in his cheeks falter and it never reaches his eyes. "You made it. Come in."
I hold out my hand. "That's all I need right now, Enid." It's strange not to call her by her given name, but that's what she was before Triton awoken her. She transforms into her card state, and I step into the room. My pulse picks up. Roseman could try to kidnap me right now and no one would know where I went. He could take me to the dungeons, throw me in a cell with Bullock, and then I would await my fate with Aibek killing me when he returns from where ever he has gone.
The room is just like the other classrooms that aren’t in the Back Waters. Clean, well lit, with the wood floors polished.
Bullock sits at one of the desks at the front of the room. He stands as I enter. I look to his right hand. The ring still sits on his pinkie finger. Good, they didn’t take it away. They didn’t know what it was.
‘Can you hear me now?’ I venture.
‘Yes, but we’ll have to multitask if we want to talk this way without seeming suspicious.’
Slight bags rest under his brown eyes and his cheeks have thinned out to where he looks gaunt.
‘Are you okay? What have they done to you? Why did they take you?’
I turn to face Roseman and hold out my wrists to him. He taps each of the golden cuffs. My heart races. Won’t he be able to tell that the magic has gone from them? All they are now is a strange accessory.
‘I’m fine. They haven’t done much of anything but make me sit in a cell for days on end. I don’t know. They haven’t said anything to me, and they didn’t take away the ring either, so I don’t think they’ve figured out its how we communicate with each other.’
“You’re free to start your tutoring session. You have one hour. I’ll be sitting over here.” Roseman walks over to a desk and takes a seat.
I swallow hard. “I’m going to start where we left off, before our last unfortunate lesson. Is that all right with you, Miss Roseman?”
I wonder if he knows how the false me gave him the scar in the shape of a 3 at the left corner of his mouth.
I nod. “Yes.”
‘We need to develop a plan to get to the Cabin. We need that chip Perlow gave you. After we’re done here, he will put me back down in the dungeons.’
He moves over to the teacher desk and summons an apple. “Cut it in half with the air.”
‘You want me to break you out of the dungeon and get us to the Cabin without being seen? How do you propose I do that?’
I hold out my hand and try to picture the air slicing the apple in half. My hand shakes, but nothing happens. I don’t know how to control air I’m a fire user.
‘We can make it seem like I haven’t left the dungeons and there’s other ways to get to the Cabin.’
“Focus on the air cutting the apple in half, as if it were a knife.”
‘Care to elaborate?’
“I’m trying to do that, but it doesn’t work.”
‘Use an illusion to make it seem like I’m still there and there’s more passages leading underground. I’m sure one of them will lead to the Cabin.’
He steps up behind me and puts his arm along mine to grab the part of my wrist that isn’t covered by the cuff.
“Mr. Bullock,” warns Roseman.
Bullock looks to Roseman. “Do you want to teach her how to use the technique or not?”
Roseman clears his throat and sits further back in the small, wooden chair.
‘Only silver user can use illusions. How do you know I can use magic?’
‘I could
tell that the cuffs had no magic in them when you came in. Your body language was different. I don’t know how you did it, but good job. I don’t think Roseman noticed. Have Mathis teach you how to do it.’
His magic moves through my arm. “Now picture the air cutting the apple and remember the way the air feels flowing from your hand.”
‘Why is your magic so weak? You’re only at half power.’
‘I healed Dante last night. It wiped most of my reserves. I’ll be fine by the end of the night.’
His magic flows with mine. The apple halves fall to their sides.
‘I’ll give you some of my magic. It should help, so that you can get through this session.’
His magic flows in and up my arm. The heaviness that has plagued my muscles since last night finally dissolves away.
“Now you try on your own.” He lets go of my arm and stepped off to the side.
‘Thank you.’
‘You needed it.’
I focus on the apple and cutting a half of it in half. I Hold out my hand and imagine the air as a blade cutting through the flesh of the apple. Air rushes under my0z
Slowly, the apple cuts in half and I smile, it might have not happened quickly, but I think I’m starting to understand how air magic works. It’s a lot more sensitive than fire magic.
“I did it!”
‘My P.A. has been awoken by Triton. She will be able to find a passage to the dungeons. We’ll go tonight, be ready,’ A headache inches its way into my skull, always, whenever I give a direct order. Why does that happen?
‘All right.’
“I want you to levitate the apple and cut it at the same time.”
‘Be careful tonight, Avalon. If Mathis is fixed, have him come. He will be able to do the illusion.’
‘I will. If your fine with him being there.’
‘Why wouldn’t I be okay with it? He’s not warped anymore, right?’
‘Right.’
I manage to levitate the apple just as the bell rings signalling the hour.
“That’s time. You can continue this tomorrow, Cookie.” I nearly forgotten he was here.